- The southern command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that the Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Kherson region was blown up by Russian forces.
- Kherson regional administration said that the water level would reach a critical level in five hours and began evacuating the population from dangerous areas.
- Russian emergency services said around 80 settlements downstream could be affected.
- Blowing the Soviet-era dam, which is controlled by Russia, would unleash a wall of floodwater across much of the Kherson region.
The Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has been blown up, threatening to flood areas downstream along the Dnipro River. The Soviet-era hydroelectric plant also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
“The Kakhovka was blown up by the Russian occupying forces,” the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday morning on its Facebook page. Ukraine’s Kherson regional administration said that the water level would reach a critical level in five hours and began evacuating the population from dangerous areas.
“The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror.”
The Moscow-installed mayor of the nearby town of Nova Kakhovka initially denied social media reports that the dam had been blown up, but later said the dam had been shelled in “a serious terrorist act.” Russian emergency services said around 80 settlements downstream could be affected. Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that there was not yet any “critical danger” posed to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Significance of the dam
* The dam, 30 meters (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro River as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
* The reservoir also supplies water to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
* The volume of water in the reservoir is about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the U.S. state of Utah.
* Blowing the Soviet-era dam, which is controlled by Russia, would unleash a wall of floodwater across much of the Kherson region.
Air defence systems were engaged in repelling air attacks in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said on the Telegram messaging app. Vitali Klitschko, mayor of the Ukrainian capital, also said that blasts heard in Kyiv were the sound of air defence systems repelling an attack.
After the attack, the Kyiv military administration said that air defences destroyed more than 20 enemy objects. Air raid alerts were in effect across all of Ukraine overnight as Russia launched another wave of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities.
(With inputs from agencies)
